N14 


7- 


1.    The  Venus  of  Melos. 


Newark,  N.  J. 

The )  Newark  Museum  Association 
L913 


UNIVERSITY     i) 

OT       J 


EXCHANGE 

2  The  Newark  Museum  Association 

The  Most  Beautiful  Goddess—  Venus. 

Almost  a  hundred  years  ago,  workmen  were  dig- 
ging up  the  ground  in  a  cave  on  the  little  island  of 
Melos,  not  far  from  the  coast  of  Greece,  and  found 
this  statue,  where  it  had  been  placed  many  hundreds 
of  years  before. 

In  that  early  time  the  Greeks  were  very  fond  of  all 
beautiful  things  and  they  carved,  often  with  very 
great  skill,  statues  of  the  gods  and  goddesses  they 
loved  and  worshipped.  They  built  large  and  magnifi- 
cent temples  of  many-colored  marbles  in  which  to 
place  these  statues,  where  they  burned  incense  before 
them  and  sacrificed  young  animals  in  their  honor. 

Loving  all  beauty,  it  was  the  goddess  of  beauty 
they  loved  most  of  all,  and  they  said  to  each  other  : 
"We  must  carve  the  most  beautiful  statue  we  can  for 
the  goddess  we  love  the  most."  It  was  this  statue 
among  many  others,  that  they  then  carved. 

A  French  official  at  Constantinople  heard  of  its 
great  beauty  and  said  :  "I  must  take  that  statue  as  a 
present  to^my  king."  He  went  to  Melos,  bought  it 
abcf  :tqcjk»  tt  to  Paris.  The  king,  Louis  XVIII,  was 
pleaded.  at  jeteiving  so  beautiful  a  gift.  He  put  it  into 

- 


at- Paris,  called  the  Louvre,  where  his  peo- 
ple could  see  it  every  day. 

There  it  still  stands.    Many  copies  of  it  have  been 
made  in  bronze,  marble  and  plaster,  so  that  people  all 


Venus  of  Melos 


over  the  world  can  see  it— and  now  we  in  Newark 
also. 

No  one  knows  who  took  the  statue  out  of  its  temple 
and  put  it  in  the  cave.  It  is  thought  that,  at  a  time 
when  most  men  in  that  region  came  to  prize  the 
value  of  marble  as  mere  stone  or  as  something  they 
could  burn  to  make  lime,  more  than  their  gods  and 
the  beauty  that  had  been  carved  into  statues,  some 
one,  who  still  loved  beautiful  things,  hid  this  Venus 
in  a  cave,  that  she  might  not  be  destroyed  or  carried 
away.  All  this  happened  over  a  thousand  years  ago. 
The  statue  is  thought  to  be  now  about  two  thousand 
years  old. 


Venus  is  the  goddess  of  love  and  beauty  and  the 
mother  of  little  Cupid.  She  was  born  on  the  crest  of 
a  wave.  The  ocean  nymphs  at  once  fell  in  love  with 
the  beautiful  baby  and  took  her  to  their  home 
beneath  the  waves,  where  they  cared  for  her  ten- 
derly until  she  grew  up. 

When  she  was  old  enough  to  leave  them  and  go  to 
Mount  Olympus,  the  home  of  all  the  gods,  the 
Nymphs  chose  a  beautiful  shell,  large  enough  for  her 
to  stand  in  and  called  upon  Triton  and  Nereids,  serv- 
ants of  Neptune  the  Sea-god,  to  draw  it  over  the 
water  to  the  shore.  The  wind  goddess,  Zephyr,  blew 
a  gentle  breeze  to  waft  her  along,  and  thus  she  came, 
not  to  Mount  Olympus,  but  to  the  Island  of  Cyprus. 


854245 


4  The  Newark  Museum  Association 

Every  one  on  the  shore  bowed  down  before  her  great 
beauty  and  the  dwellers  on  Cyprus  admired  her  so 
much  that  they  made  sacred  to  her  their  cities  with 
their  temples  and  altars  and  their  groves. 

She  lived  for  a  time  on  Cyprus,  but  reached  Olym- 
pus at  last.  Here  she  became  the  wife  of  Vulcan,  and 
was  always  escorted  by  Cupids  and  Graces  when  she 
walked  about. 

But  after  some  years  she  left  the  home  of  the  gods 
and  came  down  to  earth  to  show  her  beauty  to  man- 
kind. Being  the  goddess  of  beauty  and  love,  she 
gave  her  aid  to  all  lovers  and  often  sent  her  little 
son  Cupid  to  shoot  his  arrows  into  the  hearts  of  obsti- 
nate youths  and  maidens  to  make  them  fall  in  love. 


Venus  had  a  kind  heart  and  always  meant  to  make 
people  happy,  but  sometimes  she  made  mistakes. 
Indeed,  she  was  once  so  vain  that  she  caused  an 
entire  city  to  be  destroyed. 

It  all  came  about  at  a  wedding  at  which  Venus  and 
many  other  gods  and  goddesses  were  guests.  An 
ugly  goddess,  however,  had  not  been  invited  and,  to 
cause  discord  among  those  who  were  enjoying  them- 
selves so  much,  she  threw  among  them  an  apple,  on 
which  were  written  the  words,  "For  the  fairest." 

Of  course  each  goddess  thought  the  apple  was 
meant  for  her  and  each  tried  to  pick  it  up-  and  then 
the  trouble  began! 


Venus  of  Melos 


All  agreed  at  last  that  Juno  or  Minerva  or  Venus 
should  have  it,  but  no  one  could  say  which.  It  was 
decided  that  they  must  go  to  a  beautiful  shepherd 
named  Paris,  who  tended  his  flocks  on  Mt.  Ida,  and 
ask  him  to  select  the  fairest. 

The  three  goddesses  set  forth,  each  eager  to  appear 
beautiful  to  the  judge.  Minerva  came  in  glittering 
armor  and  promised  the  youth  great  wisdom  if  she 
won  the  prize.  Juno,  the  queen  of  the  gods,  put  on 
her  royal  robes  and  offered  him  endless  wealth  and 
power  if  he  would  award  the  apple  to  her.  Venus 
buckled  about  her  the  magic  belt  which  made  every- 
one unable  to  resist  the  charm  of  her  beauty.  She 
whispered  to  Paris  that  if  he  chose  her  she  would 
give  him  a  bride  as  fair  as  herself.  Paris  did  not 
consider  long.  He  was  overcome  by  her  great 
beauty  and  by  the  thought  of  a  bride  as  beautiful. 
He  handed  her  the  apple,  and  thus  gained  the  hatred 
of  Minerva  and  Juno. 

The  promised  bride  was  Helen,  fairest  of  all 
women,  and  already  the  wife  of  King  Menelaus.  As 
Venus  had  promised,  she  left  Menelaus  and  went 
with  Paris,  who  proved  to  be  a  son  of  King  Priam,  to 
Troy,  his  father's  famous  city.  Menelaus  called  on 
his  fellow  kings  of  Greece  to  help  him  bring  Helen 
back.  They  besieged  Troy  for  ten  years,  and  at  last 
captured  and  burnt  it.  And  thus  Venus,  through  the 
lovely  Helen,  caused  a  fair  city  to  be  destroyed. 


6  The  Newark  Museum  Association 

If  the  arms  of  this  statue  of  Venus  had  not  been 
broken  off  when  it  was  hidden  in  the  cave,  how 
would  they  appear?  Perhaps  the  goddess  would  have 
been  leaning  on  a  shield  or  holding  up  her  drapery; 
no  one  knows.  They  may  have  been  raised  to  smooth 
her  hair  before  setting  forth  to  win  the  golden  apple, 
for  the  poet  Cowper  tells  us, 

"Venus  oft  with  anxious  care 
Adjusted  twice  a  single  hair." 


Map  of  Greece  and  the  ^gean  Sea,  showing 
the  location  of  Melos. 


Venus  of  Melos 


The  Museum's  Collection  of  Sculptures. 
The  collection  of  casts  of  the  Newark  Museum 
Association  was  bought  of  P.  P.  Caproni  and  Brother, 
of  Boston,  Mass.  There  are  sixty  pieces  and  they 
represent  several  periods  and  schools  of  sculpture, 
from  ancient  Assyrian  to  Italian  Rennaissance.  They 
were  installed  in  May,  1913,  in  one  of  the  rooms  on 
the  fourth  floor  of  the  Library  Building,  which  was 
decorated  especially  for  the  purpose  by  the  painter 
Mr.  Max  Weber  of  New  York.  Other  casts  about 
which  stories  are  to  be  published  are : 

King  Assur-bani-pal  and  his  Lion  Hunt. 

The  Greek  Charioteer. 

The  Sphinx. 

The  Hero  Achilles. 

Greek  Memorials  to  the  Dead. 

Brutus,  an  Untrue  Friend. 

The  Parthenon,  a  Greek  Temple. 

The  Italian  Singers. 

Castor,  the  Horse-tamer. 


THE    VENUS     OF     MELOS 


1916 


Stories  of  the  Statues 


2.    The  Lion  Hunt 


Newark,  N.  J. 

The  (Newark  Museum  Association 
1914 


Ashurbanipal  and  His  Lion  Hunt 

Over  two  thousand  years  ago  there  ruled  over 
Assyria,  a  country  to  the  east  of  Egypt,  a  king 
named  Ashurbanipal.  His  father,  whose  name  was 
Esarhaddon,  died  when  Ashurbanipal  was  a  young 
man  and  left  him  his  country  to  rule  over.  It  was 
a  hard  task  to  rule  a  country  at  that  time,  for  all 
kings  then  liked  to  go  to  war  to  show  their  bra- 
very. And  Assyria  had  many  enemies  on  every 
side.  The  most  dreaded  of  these  were  the  Medes 
and  the  Babylonians. 

Like  all  the  other  kings,  Ashurbanipal  was  war- 
like, too.  He  was  not  content  to  fight  only  when 
enemies  came  to  attack  him.  He  made  long  war 
journeys  into  other  countries.  He  went  to  Egypt 
and  capcured  Memphis  and  Thebes  more  than  once; 
he  marched  into  Babylonia,  also,  and  fought  against 
his  own  brother.  He  was  cruel  in  victories.  It  is 
said  that  when  he  captured  other  kings  or  princes 
of  high  birth,  he  would  harness  them  to  his  war 
chariot  and  let  them  pull  him  many  hundreds  of 
miles  on  his  way  back  to  Assyria. 


The  Lion  Hunt 


But,  unlike  other  warlike  kings  of  those  days, 
Ashurbanipal  did  much  for  his  country  besides  con- 
quering other  lands.  He  and  his  father  were  great 
builders.  Esarhaddon,  his  father,  had  ten  palaces 
built  and  thirty-six  temples.  Ashurbanipal  did  not 
build  as  many;  but  he  did  erect  a  palace  at  Nine- 
veh which  was  very  famous.  He  had  it  made  of 
bricks.  There  is  no  building  stone  in  Assyria, 
which  is  a  flat,  sandy  country  without  many  hills. 

Ashurbanipal  had  earth  heaped  up  to  form  a  huge 
mound  on  which  to  set  his  palace,  so  that  it  would 
be  higher  than  all  the  houses  round  about,  and 
could  be  seen  from  a  great  distance.  His  prisoners 
of  war  built  his  hill  and  did  the  brick  laying  on 
his  palace.  In  his  day  all  prisoners  of  war  became 
slaves  and  worked  for  their  captors.  Among  these 
prisoners  were  many  Arab  chieftains. 

On  the  top  floor  of  this  palace  Ashurbanipal  ar- 
ranged his  library.  Not  many  people  could  read  at 
that  time  and  there  were  not  many  books.  Ashur- 
banipal loved  books  and  had  his  slaves  copy  many 
of  the  old  ones  of  his  kingdom  and  some  of  the 
books  he  had  taken  in  war  from  the  Babylonians. 
They  were  copied,  not  as  we  do  it  now  by  printing ; 
but  were  scratched  on  prepared  skins  with  a  reed. 

The  walls  of  the  rooms  of  his  palace  he  deco- 
rated with  marble  statues  and  carved  reliefs.  And, 
to  add  to  his  own  fame,  most  of  these  pictured 
events  in  his  own  life,  showing  his  bravery  in  war, 


The  Newark  Museum  Association 


his  magnificent  feasts  at  court,  or  his  elaborate 
hunting  parties. 

It  is  mostly  from  these  carvings  on  Ashurbani- 
pal's  walls,  and  on  walls  elsewhere  in  Assyria, 
that  we  know  so  much  about  the  Assyrians  of  those 
times.  If  histories  were  written  then,  they  have  not 
come  down  to  us.  We  know  how  they  lived,  what 
their  furniture,  tools  and  clothing  were  like  and  how 
they  looked.  We  know  about  their  religion,  their 
daily  habits  and  their  wars,  and  even  much  about 
their  thoughts  and  superstitions. 

In  the  first  relief,  of  the  king  and  queen  banquet- 
ing in  a  garden,  we  can  learn  much  about  the  king 
and  his  people.  We  see  the  king  reclining  upon  a 
couch  while  the  queen  sits  upon  a  chair.  The 
chairs  and  table  were  of  bronze,  inlaid  with  ivory 
and  lapis  lazuli,  a  beautiful  green  stone.  We  can 
see  the  pattern  on  the  queen's  robe  and  the  fringe 
of  the  coverlet  covering  the  king's  knee.  In  all 


I 


t! 


r 


Assyrian  carvings  the  legs  of  the  furniture  have 
always  the  same  finish,  the  claw  of  a  lion  or  ante- 
lope resting  upon  a  fir-cone.  Only  kings,  queens  or 


The  Lion  Hunt 


gods  sat  on  chairs;  common  people  sat  on  stools. 

We  can  see  that  slaves  of  the  king  are  all  smooth- 
shaven.  Only  kings  and  princes  wore  beards,  and 
were  so  proud  of  them  that  they  always  curled 
them  elaborately.  Slaves  behind  the  king  are  fan- 
ning him  diligently  to  keep  him  cool. 

We  know,  too,  from  this  scene  that  Ashurbani- 
pal  was  a  cruel  king.  If  you  will  look  closely  at 
the  next  to  the  last  tree  on  the  left  side  you  will 
see  the  head  of  one  of  his  enemies  tied  to  a  branch. 
It  must  be  a  victory  over  one  of  his  foes  that 
Ashurbanipal  is  celebrating,  and  the  head  reminds 
him  pleasantly  of  his  conquest.  A  slave  at  the  end 
of  the  line  is  making  music  on  a  harp. 


'--- 


The  most  famous  of  the  carvings  that  covered 
the  walls  of  the  palace  at  Nineveh  are  those  of  the 
lion  hunt.  From  them  we  know  that  Ashurbanipal 
was  very  fond  of  hunting  lions  and  that  he  went 


6  The  Newark  Museum  Association 

about  it  more  as  if  he  were  going  to  fight  a  power- 
ful human  enemy  than  a  poor  lion. 

Everyone  is  up  at  sunrise  ready  to  start,  for  they 
have  a  long  way  to  go  before  they  reach  the  place 
where  the  lions  are.  The  slaves  must  first  get  the 
chariot  ready  for  the  king's  use,  sharpen  the  arrows 
and  put  them  in  the  quiver  tied  to  the  side  of  the 
car.  They  must  also  stand  a  second  bow  inside,  in 
case  the  first  one  breaks.  Look  at  the  chariot  and 
you  can  see  all  these  things. 

When  all  is  ready,  the  king  enters  his  chariot 
and  leads  the  procession.  Then  come  princes  and 
nobles  in  their  chariots,  then  many  lancers  on 
horseback  and  many  slaves  on  foot  leading  dogs, 
and  others  leading  mules  laden  with  food  and  tents. 
Then  come  men  with  the  horses  that  the  king  and 
nobles  will  use  in  the  hunt. 

When  they  find  a  lion  the  king  will  aim  at  it 
from  the  chariot;  but  that  is  dangerous  sport,  for 
the  chariot  is  open  at  the  back  and  the  lion  can 
easily  spring  upon  the  king.  But  Ashurbanipal  is 
brave  and  surely  would  like  to  meet  a  lion  almost 
single-handed.  In  one  of  our  reliefs  we  see  him 
about  to  shoot  an  arrow  from  his  chariot. 

The  next  day,  after  camping  in  the  lion  country, 
the  king  and  nobles  mount  their  horses,  as  we  see 
them  in  the  next  carving,  and  the  hunt  begins. 
Slaves  rush  about,  find  and  arouse  a  lion,  and  then 
the  huntsmen  go  after  it.  Sometimes,  if  their 
arrows  miss  or  fail  to  kill  they  must  follow  the 


The  Lion  Hunt 


wounded  animal  a  great  distance.  One  after  the 
other  king  and  nobles  shoot  their  arrows  into  him 
until  he  can  run  no  further  and  falls  dead. 


When  the  chase  is  over  the  king  gives  thanks 
for  his  success  to  the  great  god  Asshur,  as  we  can 
see  in  the  fourth  relief.  Slaves  place  the  lion  in 
the  center  of  the  group;  the  king  takes  a  cup  of 
wine  from  the  priest,  touches  it  with  his  lips  and 
pours  the  wine  over  the  lion  while  musicians,  stand- 
ing by,  play  on  their  harps  a  hymn  of  praise. 

Ashurbanipal  is  very  proud.  He  will  now  drive 
home  in  his  chariot  and  his  people  will  rush  to  the 
gates  of  Nineveh  to  meet  him  and  will  cry  out  that 
he  is  a  great  king.  And  when  Ashurbanipal  gets 
into  his  palace,  he  will  call  his  chief  builder  to  him 
and  say ;  "  I,  Ashurbanipal,  wish  you  to  carve  upon 
marble  the  events  of  this  great  day."  And  it  was 
done,  and  that  is  how  it  happens  that  we  know  so 
much  about  one  of  King  Ashurbanipal's  lion  hunts. 

The  sculptors  of  Greece  were  able  to  carve  much 
more  beautiful  statues  than  the  Assyrians  for  they 


8  The  Newark  Museum  Association 

were  more  educated  and  full  of  the  love  of  beauti- 
ful things.  The  Venus  of  Melos,  as  we  know,  is 
one  of  their  most  beautiful  statues. 

Ashurbanipal's  sculptors,  however,  were  able  to 
carve  better  than  the  ones  who  lived  under  the 
kings  before  him.  See  the  vines  and  palm  trees 
under  which  the  king  and  queen  are  banqueting. 
Each  leaf  and  bunch  of  grapes  is  very  carefully 
carved.  And  in  the  hunting  scenes  how  much 
movement  there  is!  How  fast  the  horses  are  gal- 
loping! The  king  in  the  chariot  is  in  action,  too, 
for  he  is  about  to  shoot  his  arrow.  Sculptors  be- 
fore this  time  could  only  carve  people  who  were 
seated  or  standing  still. 

About  twenty  years  after  Ashurbanipal  had  died, 
Nineveh  was  captured  by  his  great  enemies,  the 
Medes  and  Babylonians.  The  palace  with  its 
large  library  and  its  carvings  was  destroyed.  As 
no  one  cared  to  rebuild,  it  lay  in  ruins  many  hun- 
dreds of  years  until  sand  blew  over  it  and  trees 
and  bushes  grew  over  it  and  it  was  entirely  buried. 
In  1852  English  explorers  dug  away  the  earth  to 
see  what  the  old  palace  was  like.  We  can  still  see 
some  of  the  walls  and  the  plan  of  the  rooms;  but 
those  four  carvings  and  others  were  taken  to  Eng- 
land and  put  in  the  British  Museum  in  London. 
Many  copies  of  them  have  been  made  in  marble 
and  plaster,  and  from  some  of  the  latter  we  here 
in  Newark  can  see  and  read  the  story  of  King 
Ashurbanipal  and  his  Lion  Hunt. 


JAN  10  M 


Stories  of  the  Statues 

3.    The  Greek  Charioteer 


^jfsodjirp5 

JO 

A  x  i  s  >T  n  A  i  K  n 
SH.i  >TO 

•   -  •  '•  •.  \  '  -.  "\'x 


The  Charioteer  of  Delphi.    Bronze  probably  by  Calamis,  fifth  century 
B.  C.     Found  in  1896  and  now  in  the  Museum  at  Delphi 


.           Newark,  N.  J. 
Tha  Newark  Museum  Association 
1 1915 


The  Greek  Charioteer 

In  the  central  part  of  Greece  in  the  province  of 
Phocis  was  once  a  large  and  beautiful  city,  called 
Delphi.  Its  years  of  growth  and  importance  extended 
from  about  1000  B.  C.,  to  about  400  A.  D.  As  time 
went  on  it  was  destroyed  by  many  wars  and  its  treas- 
ures and  statues  were  carried  off,  one  after  another, 
by  its  conquerors.  Then  its  people  left  it ;  earth,  trees 
and  bushes  came  to  cover  it,  and  finally  the  new  vil- 
lage of  Kastri  was  built  where  it  had  stood. 

Twenty  years  ago,  students  of  ancient  Greece  came 
from  France  and  began  to  dig  out  what  was  left  of  the 
old  city.  Their  workmen  uncovered  the  walls  of  large 
palaces  and  of  magnificent  temples  and  monuments, 
tombs  and  many  statues. 

One  of  the  most  beautiful  of  these  statues  thus 
found  is  the  "Charioteer  of  Delphi."  The  chariot 
and  horses  were  broken  to  tiny  bits  and  could  not  be 
put  together.  The  left  arm  of  the  charioteer,  too, 
was  missing.  But  even  broken,  it  is  still  one  of  the 
most  beautiful  of  the  few  beautiful  statues,  made  by 
the  ancient  Greeks,  that  have  come  down  to  us.  It  is 
kept  with  great  care  in  the  Museum  at  Delphi.  In  the 
Newark  Museum  there  is  a  copy  of  it  in  plaster  that 
we  can  see  and  enjoy. 

The  story  of  the  way  this  statue  came  to  Delphi  is 
very  interesting: 

Delphi  was  one  of  the  favorite  cities  of  the  Greeks. 
In  it  there  was  a  rich  temple,  sacred  to  Apollo,  one  of 
the  gods  they  loved  the  most.  Apollo,  they  thought, 
was  able  to  tell  them  what  was  going  to  happen.  He 
could  tell  kings,  for  example,  whether  or  no  they 
would  win  battles ;  and  to  any  inquirer  whether  he 
would  be  rich  and  happy,  or  poor  and  miserable.  The 


2  The  Newark  Museum  Association 

people  therefore  paid  Apollo  great  respect.  They 
built  him  a  magnificent  temple  and  brought  to  him 
treasures  and  beautiful  things  to  win  his  favor. 


Map  showing  the  location  of  Delphi  on  the  slopes  of  Mt.  Parnassus 

Delphi  thus  became  one  of  the  richest  and  most 
beautiful  cities  in  Greece. 

The  Greek  people  built  the  temple  to  Apollo  quite 
high  on  the  slopes  of  Mount  Parnassus  and  facing  the 
sea  so  that  it  could  be  seen  for  miles  around.  The 
front  of  it  was  of  shining  Parian  marble.  A  winding 


The  Greek  Charioteer 


road,  called  the  Sacred  way,  led  up  to  it,  and  this  was 
lined  on  both  sides  with  treasure  houses  containing 
money  and  jewels,  costly  weapons  and  armor,  splen- 
did garments  and  vases  of  all  kinds,  captured  by  rich 
kings  in  war  and  brought  as  gifts  to  Apollo. 


About  470  years  before  Christ  lived,  there  was  a  king 
in  Syracuse,  a  Greek  colony  on  the  island  of  Sicily  near 
Italy,  whose  name  was  Hieron.  When  he  was  young 
he  cared  only  for  wars  and  ruled  his  people  like  a 
tyrant.  But  as  he  grew  older  he  came  to  care  less  for 
war  and  power  and  more  for  the  arts  and  pleasures 
of  peace.  He  became  the  friend  of  writers  and  sculp- 
tors, and  if  he  found  a  man  of  talent  whom  he  thought 
worthy,  he  would  give  him  money  to  live  on,  or  bring 
him  to  the  court  at  Syracuse  so  that  he  could  spend 
his  time  in  painting  or  writing  or  carving  statues. 
One  of  the  men  he  thus  found  was  a  sculptor  named 
Calamis. 

Calamis  lived  a  long  time  at  Hieron's  court.  He 
carved  especially  well  figures  of  horses,  and  an  old 
writer  tells  us  he  once  made  in  bronze  a  charioteer 
standing  in  a  chariot  and  guiding  his  horses. 

Hieron  had  a  younger  brother,  Polyzalos,  of  whom 
he  was  very  proud.  At  his  brother's  command,  Poly- 
zalos was  trained  to  run  and  jump  by  the  great 
trainers  in  Greece ;  and,  being  a  youth  of  noble  birth, 
he  was  also  taught  to  race  in  the  chariot,  for  that  was 
considered  one  of  the  most  manly  sports  the  son  of  a 
king  could  take  part  in. 

These  and  other  facts  have  led  students  of  history 
and  art  to  think  that  Calamis  made  the  statue  of  the 
Charioteer,  that  it  is  perhaps  a  portrait  of  Polyzalos, 
and  that  King  Hieron  sent  it  to  the  temple  of  Delphi 
as  a  gift  to  Apollo  because  Polyzalos  had  won  a  very 


The  Newark  Museum  Association 


1         r^r?  is-JLiU^^S^*"-^  ;  '.  I  r,  •'*••'•' "7^       lc,-| 

i B  • '  • ;  ^^Mt   a 


Map  of  the  precinct  of  Apollo  at  Delphi.     The  Games  were  held  in 

the  Stadium  northwest  of  the  city.    The  Charioteer  was 

found  beside  the  Sacred  Way  on  the  upper  terrace 


The  Greek  Charioteer 


important  race.  If  you  will  look  at  the  map  of  the  city 
you  will  see  that  the  statue  was  found  close  to  the 
temple  and  beside  the  Sacred  way. 

Delphi  was  such  an  important  city  that  festivals, 
called  the  Pythian  games,  to  which  thousands  came 
from  all  parts  of  Greece,  were  held  there  every  four 
years.  The  games  were  held  in  honor  of  the  god 
Apollo  and  lasted  four  days.  They  were  so  important 
that  if  a  war  was  being  waged  when  the  date  for  the 
games  came  round,  a  truce  was  declared,  and  any  who 
took  part  in  the  games  were  permitted  to  travel  to  and 
from  Delphi  in  safety. 

On  the  morning  of  the  first  day  a  procession  was 
held  of  all  the  guests  of  honor,  the  foreign  kings,  en- 
voys from  the  Greek  states  in  their  splendid  chariots, 
priests,  officials  and  the  men  and  boys  who  were  to 
take  part  in  the  games.  All  along  the  Sacred  way  up 
to  the  temple,  the  doors  of  the  treasuries  were  opened 
and  the  rich  treasures  inside  glittered  in  the  sunlight. 
In  the  temple  sacrifices  were  made  to  the  god  Apollo, 
to  Artemis,  his  sister  and  to  Leto,  his  mother.  Here 
those  who  were  to  take  part  in  the  games,  swore  on  a 
sacred  urn  that  they  were  free-born  and  that  they  had 
never  committed  a  crime.  Here  also  they  drew  lots 
for  their  places  in  the  races.  Then  the  procession 
went  to  the  stadium,  northwest  of  the  city,  where  the 
people  were  gathered,  waiting  for  the  games  to  begin. 

On  the  first  day  musical  concerts  were  held.  Songs 
were  sung  accompanied  by  flute  and  cithara.  A  con- 
certo was  also  played  describing  in  music  the  fight  of 
Apollo  with  the  dragon,  Pytho,  the  incident  from  which 
the  festival  took  its  name. 

On  the  second  day  were  the  gymnastic  events,  run- 
ning, jumping,  wrestling  and  boxing  and  trials  of 
strength. 


6  The  Newark  Museum  Association 

On  the  third  day,  races  on  horseback  and  in  chariots 
were  run.  Let  us  go  with  Polyzalos  on  the  day  he  is 
to  drive  in  the  race. 


It  is  early  in  the  morning  of  a  hot  August  day.  Al- 
ready the  roads  leading  to  the  stadium  are  full  of 
hurrying  men  and  boys  for  women  were  not  allowed 
to  attend  the  games.  Peddlers  with  their  goods,  jug- 
glers and  poets  with  their  poems  run  along  beside  the 
crowd  crying  their  wares  in  the  hope  of  making  a 
penny  now  and  then. 

Here  and  there  are  groups  of  people  in  chariots,  en- 
voys from  the  various  states,  bearing  offerings  to  the 
temple;  behind  them  is  perhaps  a  sick  man  on  a  litter, 
coming  with  a  gift  to  the  god  Apollo  with  the  hope  of 
being  cured. 

On  horseback  are  the  kings  of  the  Greek  states,  their 
horses  gleaming  in  their  rich  trappings.  One  of  these 
is  surely  Hieron,  the  brother  of  Polyzalos,  eager  and 
anxious. 

Polyzalos  hurries  along  through  the  crowd,  for  if  he 
is  late  the  servants  of  the  judges  of  the  race,  called 
the  Amphictyons,  will  not  allow  him  to  take  part.  Al- 
ready most  of  the  seats  are  filled  and  still  the  crowds 
pour  in  through  all  the  entrances. 

At  one  end,  in  a  box  high  up  and  in  view  of  all,  the 
judges  in  their  purple  robes  have  already  taken  their 
places.  Below  them  the  races  start  and  finish. 

Polyzalos  hastily  changes  his  short  chiton  or  tunic 
for  the  long  garment  worn  by  charioteers.  His  ser- 
vants have  already  harnessed  the  horses  to  the  chariot 
just  as  you  see  them  in  the  illustration  from  a  vase- 
painting.  The  owner  of  the  chariot  is  holding  the 
reins,  the  charioteer  is  standing  behind  the  horses  and 
and  two  slaves  are  about  to  harness  the  third  horse. 


The  Greek  Charioteer 


MMMVaWW&WWVWV^^ 


Greek  chariot.    From  an  old  Greek  vase  painting 

When  all  is  in  readiness  Polyzalos  drives  out  into 
the  arena,  where  the  other  charioteers  are  already 
moving  slowly  around  the  course.  Their  chariots 
take  their  places  at  the  starting  point,  and  await  the 
sound  of  the  trumpets.  As  these  sound,  a  bronze 
dolphin  falls  from  its  high  place  near  the  chariots* 
and  an  eagle,  till  then  resting  on  an  altar,  rises  into 
the  air  with  extended  wings.  At  this  sign  the  bar- 
riers drop  and  the  horses  dash  over  the  line.  Twelve 
times  they  must  pass  around  the  course  before  the 
goal  is  reached. 

We  hope  that  Polyzalos  won  this  race.  If  he  did, 
he  was  crowned  with  a  wreath  of  laurel,  the  tree 
sacred  to  Apollo,  and  a  herald  announced  his  name 
and  the  names  of  his  father  and  of  his  native  city. 
Then  he  was  applauded  by  the  thousands  of  people 
from  all  Greece  and,  when  he  returned  home,  was 
again  honored  for  being  a  victor  in  the  great  Pythian 
games  and  bringing  fame  and  glory  to  his  native  city. 


8  The  Newark  Museum  Association 

After  all  the  events  were  finished,  banquets  were 
held  throughout  the  city  and  feasting  continued  far 
into  the  night.  A  special  banquet  was  held  for  the 
victors  at  the  town  hall,  at  which  songs  were  sung 
about  the  great  feats  at  games  of  former  years.  For 
1000  years  these  famous  festivals  were  regularly  held 
and  shared  in  by  all  the  Greek  peoples. 

A  Greek  poet  named  Pindar  spent  four  years  at 
Hieron's  court.  He  wrote  four  books  of  odes  about 
the  great  festivals  of  Greece  and  four  of  the  odes 
tell  of  the  victories  of  Hieron  and  his  horse,  Phereni- 
kos.  These  odes  have  come  down  to  us  and  you  can 
read  them  in  charming  English  translations. 


List  of  Books 

Home  Life  of  the  Ancient  Greeks.    Hugo  Bliimner, 
1910. 

Greek  Athletic  Sports  and  Festivals.    E.  N.  Gardiner, 
1910. 

Three  Greek  Children.    A.  J.  Church,  London,  1890. 
Old  Greek  Education.    J.  P.  Mahaffy,  New  York. 

Stories  of  Ancient  Greeks.    Charles  D.  Shaw,  Boston, 
1903. 

Greece.    James  A.  Harrison,  New  York,  1885. 
Greek  History.    Alice  Zimmern,  New  York,  1908. 

The  Story  of  the  Greek  People.     E.  M.  Tappan,  Bos- 
ton, 1908. 


EXCHANGE 
MIN   4 


Stories  of  the  Statues 

4.     Bartolommeo  Colleoni:     A  Statue 
by  Verocchio 


The  Colleoni  Statue.   The  original  bronze  stands  in   the  Campo  Santi 

Giovanni  e  Paolo  in  Venice.   A  perfect  copy  in  bronze,  executed 

under  the  direction  of  the  sculptor  J.  Massey  Rhind, 

was  presented  by  a  citizen  to  the  city 

of  Newark,  in  1916. 


This  picture  is  a  reproduction  of  part  of  an  engraving 
by  Rudolph  Ruzicka. 


Newark,  N.  J. 

I  J  If    ON IV 

The  Newark  Museum  Association  \\ 

1917 


NOTE  OF  EXPLANATION 

The  Newark  Museum  Association  is  trying  to  discover 
what  kinds  of  museum  objects  and  what  kinds  of  museum 
activities  Newark  likes,  and  needs,  and  will  find  useful, 
and  will  use. 

It  believes  that  one  of  the  things  it  can  do  to  give  pleasure 
to  Newarkers,  and  to  make  their  lives  more  interesting,  is  to 
treat  some  of  the  best  things  in  the  city,  like  -parks,  trees, 
fountains,  sculptures,  buildings,  and  industries,  as  if  they 
were  parts  of  its  own  collections.  Acting  on  this  belief  it 
publishes  this  pamphlet  on  Newark's  most  beautiful  sculpture, 
the  Colleoni,  and  makes  the  pamphlet  one  in  the  series  it  is 
issuing  on  the  sculptures — plaster  casts,  and  bronzes — in 
its  own  collection.  In  this  series,  called  "Stories  of  the 
Statues,"  have  already  appeared:  I.  The  Venus  of  Melos; 
2.  The  Lion  Hunt;  and  3.  The  Charioteer  of  Delphi. 

Because  the  Museum  Association  believes  it  is  better  for  the 
city  to  interest  the  children  in  good  sculpture  than  it  is  to  try 
to  interest  adults  in  it;  and  because  it  finds  it  much  easier  thus 
to  interest  the  former  than  the  latter,  all  these  stories  have 
been  written  with  the  intent  to  make  them  attractive  to  young 
people.  It  does  not  surprise  us  to  learn  that  many  adults 
have  found  all  of  them  quite  interesting. 

The  Lion  Hunt,  a  cast  of  an  Assyrian  relief,  is  now  at  the 
Belmont  Avenue  School.  A  copy  in  plaster  of  the  Colleoni^ 
small  but  full  of  the  same  fiery  energy  which  possesses  the 
original,  is  soon  to  go  to  the  same  school,  and  this  is  to  be 
followed  by  The  Charioteer  and  others.  In  several  schools, 
in  the  next  few  months,  will  be  found  other  beautiful  and 
interesting  pieces  of  sculpture,  all  coming  from  the  collection 
which  formerly  filled  a  hall  on  the  fourth  floor  of  the  library 
building.  To  make  room  for  other  things,  the  museum  being 
much  crowded  in  its  present  quarters,  this  modest  sculpture 
hall  had  to  be  dismantled.  It  seemed  that  no  better  use  could 
be  found  for  the  casts  which  composed  it  than  to  place  them 
where  the  young  people  of  the  city  could  see  them  every  day.  , 

April,  /p/7-  /.  C.  Dana,  Director. 


Bronze  copy  of  the  Colleoni  presented  to  the  city  by  a  citizen  of  Newark 
and  placed  in  a  park  at  the  head  of  Clinton  Avenue. 


The  Colleoni:  One  of  the  Two  Greatest 
Equestrian  Statues  in  the  World. 

An  equestrian  statue  is  a  statue  of  a  man  or  a 
woman  on  horseback.  There  are  many  equestri- 
an statues,  partly  because  statues  are  apt  to 
be  made  of  generals  and  other  cavalry  officers, 
whom  it  seems  natural  to  put  on  horses,  and 


The  horse  and  rider  seen  from  the  left  side;  from  a  photo- 
graph of  the  original  statue  in  Venice. 


partly  because  a  finely  formed  man  sitting  well 
on  a  handsome  horse  is  a  beautiful   sight.     It 


THE  COLLEONI 


The  horse's  head;  from  a  photograph  of  the  statue  in  Venice. 


stands  in  our  minds  for  great  physical  power 
skillfully  controlled  by  great  intelligence. 

This  Colleoni  statue  is  considered  one  of  the 
two  most  excellent  equestrian  statues  in  the 
world. 

Look  for  the  reasons  for  so  praising  it. 


THE  COLLEONI 


Is  the  horse  standing  still  or  moving?  How 
do  we  know?  What  can  we  tell  from  the  position 
of  the  eyes?  Of  the  head?  The  ears?  Of  the 
tail?  Is  the  horse  breathing  freely?  How  do  we 


The  horse  and  rider  seen  from  behind;  from  a  photograph 
of  the  statue  in  Venice. 


know?     Is  his  skin  thin  or  thick?     How  do  we 
know  that? 

Every  strong  muscle  ready  to  move,  each  hoof 
striking  the  ground  ready  at  once  to  spurn  it, 
the  uplifted  foot  drawn  up  only  the  better  to 


THE  COLLEONI 


fling  forward,  this  horse,  full  of  springing 
muscles,  ears  up,  head  high,  neck  arched,  tail 
lifted,  is  the  embodiment  of  strength,  and  agility, 
the  best  that  nature  can  do  in  creating  high- 
spirited,  eager,  graceful  force. 

What  does  the  rider  wear  on  his  body?  His 
head?  On  what  kind  of  saddle  does  he  sit? 
If  he  were  to  receive  a  hard  thrust,  how  would 
the  saddle  help  him?  Does  he  seem  to  be 
conscious  of  his  heavy  helmet?  Is  he  thinking 
of  the  horse  he  rides?  Can  he  control  it? 
How  do  we  know  that? 

The  helmeted  and  armor-covered  soldier, 
fixed  in  his  box-like  saddle,  is  so  accustomed 
to  the  movement  of  his  steed  and  so  used  to 
controlling  it  that  he  is  as  unconscious  of  its 
powerful  body  beneath  him  as  he  is  of  his  own. 
He  moves  either  as  he  chooses. 

But  his  mind  is  full  of  something  else.  Look 
at  him  from  the  right.  From  his  figure  and 
position  you  will  see  that  he  is  full  of  power 
and  purpose.  He,  too,  means  to  go  forward, 
Pass  behind  him,  and  looking  up  you  will 
understand,  "This  is  a  man  who  does  not 
retreat."  From  the  left  study  his  face.  It  says 
to  us,  "This  man's  forefathers  thought;  that 
gave  him  his  brow.  They  willed  to  do;  that 
gave  him  his  steady  gaze.  They  never  yielded; 
that  gave  him  his  firm  jaw  and  mouth.  He 
himself  has  dared  and  done  and  borne  until  his 
cheek  is  sunken  with  the  coming  of  age,  although 
his  body  is  firm  and  strong."  Those  who  face 
this  soldier  see  clearly  that  struggle  and  power 
have  made  him  stern  and  commanding. 


THE  COLLEONI 


Look  at  the  two  together — horse  and  rider, 
warrior  and  steed — and  see  how  they  move  on 
to  victory. 

In  the  midst  of  hurried  lives,  full  of  business 
or  play,  the  people  of  Newark  glance  upward  at 
this  rider  and  horse  from  another  country 
and  an  olden  time  and  wonder,  "Was  there 
ever  a  man  like  that?  What  is  he  doing  here?" 


The  head  of  the  rider;  from  a  photo- 
graph of  the  original  statue. 

The  Italians  of  Newark  and  those  who  have 
visited  Italy  know  that  he  came  from  Venice. 
He  was  an  Italian  soldier  who  died  seventeen 
years  before  Columbus  discovered  America. 


10  THE  COLLEONI 


In  those  days  each  city  of  Italy  with  the  land 
around  it  and  the  people  in  it  was  a  sovereign 
state.  It  could  make  war  without  consulting 
anybody.  In  this  country  to-day  not  even  a 
big  state  like  New  York  can  make  war  or  peace; 
that  belongs  to  the  Congress  of  the  whole 
United  States.  But  these  Italian  cities  went  to 
war  with  each  other  at  will.  And  that  led  to 
many  armies.  If  New  York  or  Trenton  were 
likely  to  attack  Newark  at  any  time,  there 
would  have  to  be  a  Newark  army  and  a  general 
of  the  Newark  forces.  Colleoni  was  a  general  of 
forces  in  Venice.  Shakespeare's  Othello,  you 
remember,  had  the  same  position  when  Desde- 
mona  fell  in  love  with  him. 

In  those  days  a  general  could  not  sit  down 
several  miles  behind  the  trenches  and  order 
by  telephone  the  firing  of  his  guns.  He  led  his 
forces.  He  was  a  fierce  fighter.  And  in  those 
days  a  soldier  was  not  a  clerk  or  a  salesman 
enlisted  for  a  few  years.  He  was  a  soldier  all 
the  time.  One  who  thus  spent  his  life  in  fighting 
and  rose  to  leadership  must  be  the  greatest 
iighter  of  them  all.  This  was  Colleoni. 

The  strangest  thing  about  Colleoni  as  a  fighter 
is  that  he  was  a  mercenary  fighter,  a  man  who 
fought  for  pay,  a  "soldier  of  fortune."  That  is 
to  say,  he  fought  for  the  city  that  hired  him, 
not  for  the  city  of  his  birth,  or  in  which  he  had 
chosen  to  live.  He  might  even  fight  for  one 
city  at  one  time,  and  then  accept  a  position 
as  general  of  the  forces  of  the  very  city  which  he 
had  formerly  attacked.  Like  a  lawyer  to-day, 
he  took  up  the  cause  of  the  side  that  hired  him. 


The  original  statue  as  it  looks  in  Venice.  One  condition  was  attached 
to  the  bequest  Colleoni  left  to  Venice — that  this  statue  of  himself  for 
which  his  money  was  to  pay,  be  erected  on  the  Piazza  San  Marco, 
the  finest  Square  in  Venice.  This  would  be  an  honor  never  paid  to  any 
man,  and  so  the  statue  was  placed  in  front  of  the  school  of  St.  Mark,  called 
the  Scuola  di  San  Marco. 


12 


THE  COLLEONI 


But  for  the  last  thirty  years  of  his  life  he 
fought  for  Venice.  There  he  had  large  estates, 
and  was  very  rich. 


The  equestrian  statue  of  Gattamelata:  this  statue  by  Donatello, 
and  the  Colleoni  by  Verocchio  are  said  to  be  the  two  greatest  equestrian 
statues  in  the  world.  A  small  copy  in  bronze  is  owned  by  the  Newark 
Museum. 


Although  Colleoni  was  haughty  and  fought 
fiercely,  he  was  not  a  cruel  conqueror,  destroying 
the  country  through  which  he  passed.  And 
during  the  last  thirty  years  of  his  life,  while  he 
served  Venice  alone,  as  general  of  her  forces, 
he  spent  much  time  in  cultivating  the  land  on 


THE  COLLEONI  13 


the  estates  which  Venice  had  given  him  as  a 
reward  for  his  services. 

He  died,  leaving  money  to  Venice  for  use  in  a 
war  which  she  was  then  fighting,  and  he  asked 
that  some  of  this  money  should  be  spent  on  a 
statue  of  himself. 

Two  different  sculptors  were  employed  to 
make  the  statue,  and  their  admirers  dispute  as 
to  which  really  was  responsible  for  its  greatness. 

Verocchio  (Va-rok'ke-o)  was  the  best  pupil  of 
Donatello  and  of  Luca  della  Robbia,  whom  we 
know  for  his  charming  bambinos,  or  babes  in 
swaddling  clothes.  He  got  the  order  for  the 
statue  first.  His  name  means,  the  true  eye. 
We  say,  in  English,  verily,  for  truly,  veracity  for 
truth;  and  we  go  to  the  oculist  to  have  our  eyes 
examined.  Verocchio  was  a  goldsmith,  then  a 
painter,  then  a  sculptor.  He  is  noted  for  a 
wonderful  little  statue  of  David. 

Leopardi  (La-6-par-de)  was  an  architect  and 
sculptor.  He  was  an  exile  when  Verocchio  died, 
having  been  banished  for  forgery;  but  everyone 
was  afraid  lest  the  statue  should  be  ruined  if  it 
were  touched  by  any  but  a  master  hand,  so 
Leopardi  was  pardoned,  returned  to  Venice, 
and  completed  Verocchio's  work. 

The  friends  of  Verocchio  say  that  he  completed 
the  modeling  of  both  horse  and  rider,  and  that 
Leopardi  merely  cast  the  statue  and  made  its 
base.  For  statues  are  usually  made  out  of  clay, 
by  the  sculptor,  and  then  copied,  sometimes  in 
larger  size,  either  in  stone  or  in  metal  which  is 
poured,  when  hot,  into  a  mould,  and  hardened 
by  cooling. 


This  is  the  bronze  statue  that  Verocchio  made  of 
the  shepherd  lad  David  who  slew  the  giant  Goliath 
with  a  sling  and  stone.  (I  Samuel;  xvii).  Veroc- 
chio's  David  is  young  and  slender,  strong  and  full  of 
faith.  He  has  conquered  beasts  and  giants  in 
defense  of  the  right.  Compare  him  with  Colleoni. 


THE  COLLEONI  1 5 


The  friends  of  Leopard!  say  that  Verocchio 
modeled  only  the  horse,  and  made  some  sketches 
of  the  rider  he  meant  to  put  on  it,  and  that 
Leopardi  improved  the  horse,  made  sketches 
after  Verocchio's  plan  for  the  rider,  and  modeled 
both  it  and  the  pedestal  completely.  They  say 
the  modeling  is  bolder  than  Verocchio's,  who  had 
a  delicate  style  due  to  his  goldsmith's  training. 

The  fact  that  Leopardi  signed  his  name  on  the 
saddle  girth  is  regarded  by  his  friends  as  proof 
that  he  really  was  responsible  for  the  whole  thing; 
but  Verrccchio's  friends  say  that  only  shows  that 
Leopardi  was  never  cured  of  his  tendency  to 
forgery. 

It  is  a  common  practice  for  cities  to  put 
statues  in  their  parks  and  other  open  spaces. 
These  statues  are  usually  of  great  men  belonging 
to  the  country,  the  state  or  the  city,  or  famous  for 
some  great  service  to  humanity.  There  are 
statues  of  Washington  and  Lincoln  in  many 
American  cities.  Newark  has  a  statue  of  Seth 
Boyden,  of  whose  memory  she  is  proud.  The 
Italians  of  New  York  gave  the  city  a  statue  of 
Columbus.  Those  who  believe  in  homeopathic 
medicine  have  put  in  a  park  in  Washington, 
D.C.,  a  monument  to  Hahnemann  who  was  the 
founder  of  that  method. 

Generally  these  statues  are  made  by  the  best 
sculptors  whom  people  know  how  to  get  for  the 
money  they  can  pay.  The  statue  of  Lincoln  in 
Newark  was  modeled  by  Gutzon  Borglum; 
the  statue  of  Washington  by  J.  Massey  Rhind. 
Both  of  these  sculptors  are  living  in  America. 


16  THE  COLLEONI 


In  a  few  cases,  however,  cities  have  put  up 
copies  of  statues  in  other  places.  In  Halifax, 
Nova  Scotia,  there  is  a  statue  of  the  English 
Prince  Albert,  a  copy  of  one  in  Liverpool, 
England.  Washington,  D.  C.,  and  Nashville, 
Tennessee,  have  statues  of  Andrew  Jackson  by 
the  same  artist.  But  the  practice  is  not  usual. 

Neither  is  it  usual  to  put  up  a  statue  just 
because  of  its  beauty.  When  Liberty  Enlighten- 
ing the  World  was  set  up  in  New  York  harbor 
she  was  made  as  beautiful  as  possible.  But  it 
was  Liberty,  not  Beauty  that  was  wanted. 

In  the  case  of  the  Colleoni,  Newark  did  not 
say,  "We  need  a  statue  for  this  park.  What 
shall  it  be?" 

Indeed,  after  the  statue  was  ready  there  was 
much  discussion  as  to  the  place  for  it. 

Nor  did  they  say,  "We  want  to  honor  this  man. 
How  shall  we  do  it?"  Only  Italians  or  students 
of  history  knew  about  Colleoni. 

What  they  did  say  was,  "We  have  a  statue  of 
Washington,  made  by  a  modern  sculptor  in  our 
city.  Let  us  set  up  here  a  copy  of  the  finest 
equestrian  statue  in  the  world.  If  no  one  ever 
makes  a  better,  we  will  have  the  best.  If  some- 
one some  day  makes  a  better,  we  shall  have 
helped  to  make  the  people  appreciate  it,  for 
in  looking  at  our  Colleoni  people  will  have  been 
trained  in  good  taste." 

But  after  all  Colleoni  is  a  good  subject  for 
a  Newark  statue.  One  of  the  speakers  at  the 
unveiling  declared  that  it  "united  the  vigorous, 
the  rich  and  the  growing  republic  of  the  west 
with  the  glorious  memory  of  a  republic  that 


THE  COLLEONI  17 


lasted  thirteen  hundred  years,  from  the  Roman 
Empire  to  the  French  Revolution."  More- 
over, there  will  always  be  in  Newark  many 
descendants  not  only  of  the  Puritans  who  first 
settled  here,  but  of  many  nations  whose  people 
followed,  and  many  of  these  will  be  of  Italian 
blood,  the  blood  that  flowed  in  the  veins  of 
Colleoni,  of  Verocchio  and  of  Leopardi. 

This  thought  that  Newark  should  have  a 
Colleoni  was  first  suggested  to  a  citizen  of 
Newark  at  a  dinner  given  to  J.  Massey  Rhind 
after  the  completion  of  his  Washington  Statue. 
He  liked  the  idea.  He  had  lent  money  to  a  friend 
who  wanted  to  work  in  the  mines  in  Africa,  and 
he  said,  "If  my  friend's  venture  turns  out  well, 
I  will  put  up  a  Colleoni  with  the  money." 
One  day,  in  walked  the  friend  to  report  that  he 
had  made  money,  from  a  mine,  and  to  pay  a 
part  of  what  he  had  made  to  this  citizen  of 
Newark.  And  so  the  statue  was  ordered. 

Now  war  was  then  raging  in  Europe.  To  get 
a  copy  of  a  statue  in  Venice  at  this  time  was 
not  easy.  And  the  only  mould  of  the  statue, 
in  the  Royal  Museum  at  Berlin,  was  just  as 
difficult  to  obtain.  But  fortunately  there  was 
a  plaster  cast,  made  from  this  Berlin  mould, 
in  the  Art  Institute  at  Chicago. 

The  sculptor,  Rhind,  used  this  cast  of  the 
statue,  and  copied  the  pediment.  The  Clinton 
Ave.  site  was  chosen  for  it,  and  it  was  set  in 
place. 

The  International  Studio,  in  an  article  about 
this  Newark  statue  says,  "The  Bartolommeo 
Colleoni  statue  will  make  Newark  a  Mecca  for 


18  THE  COLLEONI 


American  art  lovers — if  a  shell  should  chance  to 
destroy  the  glorious  statue  at  Venice,  erected 
only  a  year  after  the  adventurous  Genoese 
sailor  discovered  the  western  world,  the  Ameri- 
can counterpart  would  take  on  a  tremendous 
value,  not  expressed  in  terms  of  money." 

The  original  Colleoni  was  shown  March  21, 
1496;  the  Newark  Colleoni  July  26,  1916. 
The  original  forms  one  of  the  chief  attractions  for 
tourists  from  all  over  the  world  to  Venice. 
The  Newark  copy  makes  Newark  at  once  one 
of  the  treasure  cities  of  this  continent. 


References 

Books  on  the  History  of  Sculpture;   on  the 

Italian  Renaissance;   on  Italian  Art  with 

special  reference  to  Sculpture;  on  Venice 

with    special    reference    to  Colleoni. 

Florentine  Sculptors  of  the  Renaissance.    Bode. 

Old  Masters  and  New.    Cox. 

Mornings  with  Masters  of  Art.    Powers. 

Story  of  Art  throughout  the  Ages.    Reinach. 

St.  Mark's  Rest:  a,h  history  of  Venice.    Ruskin. 

Stones  of  Venice.    Ruskin. 

Famous  Sculpture.    Singleton. 

Autobiography  of  Benvenuto  Cellini.    Symonds. 

Italian  Sculptors.    Waters. 

Art  of  the  Italian  Renaissance.    Wafflin. 

Salve  Venetia;  gleanings  from  Venetian  history.     Crawford. 

Story  of  Venice.    Okey. 

Queen  of  the  Adriatic,  or  Venice,  mediaeval  and  modern.    Waters. 

Gautier.     Voyage  en  Italic. 

Hare.     Venice. 

Childe  Harold's  pilgrimage.    Byron. 

Italy.    Rogers. 


THE  COLLEONI  19 


NOVELS  LAID  IN  VENICE  IN  THE  DAYS  OF  VEROCCHIO 

Marietta,  a  maid  of  Venice.    Crawford. 
Master  mosaic  workers.    Land. 
Royal  Faun  of  Venice.    Turnbull 

FOR  YOUNG  PEOPLE 

Two  books  about  sculptors  and  artists  and  their  work: 
Famous  Sculpture.    Barstow. 
Sketches  of  Great  Painters.    Dallin. 

Two  stories  of  Venice  at  about  the  time  when  she  made  Colleoni 

her  general: 

The  Lion  of  St.  Mark.    Henty. 

Caterina  of  Venice.    In  historic  Girls,  by  Brooks. 
A  story  of  the  time  of  General  Colleoni  in  which  the  hero  is  an  artist 

and  goes  to  Venice: 

The  Cloister  and  the  Hearth.    Reade. 

POEMS  ABOUT  VENICE 

On  the  Extinction  of  the  Venetian  Republic.    Wordsworth. 

To  the  Lion  of  St.  Mark.    Miller. 

Venice.    From  Jacopo  Sannazzaro,  tr.  by  Addison. 

Venice.    Thomson 

Ode  to  Venice.    Byron. 

Venice.    Shelley 

At  Venice.    Clough. 

Venice.    Reade. 

Venice.    From  Giovanni  della  Casa,  tr.  by  Hemans. 

Venice.    From  Graf  von  Platen,  tr.  by  Davidson. 

In  my  Gondola.    Thornbury. 

Meditative  Fragments  on  Venice.    Houghton. 

Lido.    Houghton. 

Written  at  Venice.    Houghton. 

Venice.    From  Saverio  Bettinelli,  tr.  by  Montgomery. 

Venice  by  Day.    de  Vere. 

Venice  in  the  Evening,    de  Vere. 

The  White  Flag  on  the  Lagoon  Bridge  at  Venice.      From  Arnoldo 

Fusinato,  tr.  by  Howells. 
Venice.    Reade. 
To  Venice.    Landor. 
Venice.    Arnold. 
Venice.    Longfellow. 


nr,T  9  1917 


Stories  of  the  Statues 

5.  Egyptian  Sculpture:  Notes  on  the  casts  of  a 
few  pieces  in  the  Newark  Museum. 


King  Fsammetichu? 


OF  THE  x 

UNIVERSITY 

OF  .    I 


Newark,  N.  J. 

The  Newark  Museum  Association 
1917 


EGYPTIAN  SCULPTURE 


An  Egyptian  King 

Egyptian  Sculpture 

This  is  Pharaoh,  an  Egyptian  King.  Such 
statues  were  placed  before  the  great  tombs 
of  the  kings  in  Egypt.  Copies  like  this  are 
made  of  plaster,  but  the  original  statues  were 
probably  carved  out  of  hard  stone,  although  some 
Egyptian  statues  were  of  bronze  or  of  baked 
clay. 

If  this  were  a  modern  statue  of  an  American, 
we  should  know  the  name  of  the  sculptor. 
But  in  olden  days,  in  Egypt,  there  were  great 
numbers  of  statues  made,  some  of  them  of 
enormous  size,  whose  makers'  names  we  know 
nothing  about. 


EGYPTIAN  SCULPTURE  3 

The  important  thing  about  each  was  the 
name  of  the  statue.  The  spirit,  or  Ka,  that 
used  to  inhabit  his  body  would  come  back  some 
day  and  look  for  its  old  home.  It  would  not 
find  the  home  it  lived  in;  that  would  perhaps 
be  cheaply  built,  and  long  since  demolished. 
But  it  would  find  the  tomb,  built  during  its 
life-time  on  earth,  solid  and  enduring,  perhaps 
carved  out  of  the  solid  rock.  And  in  the  tomb 
it  would  look  for  its  mummy,  or  embalmed  body. 
Into  this  it  would  creep,  and  live  again — forever. 

But  if,  by  some  mischance,  the  mummy  were 
gone — and  many  an  Egyptian  Ka  will  miss  its 
mummified  body  when  it  returns  because 
people  have  bought  them  to  put  in  museums- 
then  the  Ka  would  look  around  for  an  image  or 
statue  of  its  former  self,  and  that  would  do 
about  as  well  as  the  mummy.  The  Ka  need 
not  wander.  It  would  have  a  body  to  live  in. 

This  is  one  reason  why  there  are  so  many, 
many  statues  in  the  tombs  of  Egypt. 

If  an  American  sculptor  is  going  to  make  a 
statue  he  decides  on  the  size.  Shall  it  be  half 
size,  full  size,  or  colossal — very  large?  A 
colossal  statue  with  us  may  be  two  or  three 
times  life  size,  or  it  may  be  so  large  that,  as  in 
New  York's  Statue  of  Liberty,  one  arm  is 
taller  than  a  man.  But  the  Egyptian  statues 
were  often  enormous.  Think  of  the  Sphinx, 
over  sixty  feet  high  from  breast  to  the  top  of  the 


EGYPTIAN  SCULPTURE 


Outline  drawing  of  sculpture  in  relief,  illustrating  the  very  formal 

method  of  treating  the  human  figure  which  the 

Egyptians  followed. 

head.  Rows  and  rows  of  these  immense  statues, 
carved  from  the  hardest  rock,  by  slave  labor, 
can  be  found  in  Egypt  to-day.  One  might 


EGYPTIAN  SCULPTURE 


almost  say  that  the  Egyptians  turned  out  statues 
as  our  newspapers  turn  out  comic  pictures. 
But  its  editions,  though  fewer,  were  more  lasting. 
Some  of  them  have  lasted  five  thousand  years. 

The  American  artist  next  decides  what  atti- 
tude his  statue  shall  take.  As  you  see,  the 
Egyptian  sculptor  had  no  trouble  about  that. 
That  had  been  decided  by  the  priests,  long  ago. 
He  must  stand,  or  sit,  or  squat.  He  could  have 
one  foot  before  the  other,  or  keep  them  side 
by  side,  but  they  must  both  be  flat  on  the 
ground,  and  he  must  bear  weight  on  both. 
He  could  not  be  bent  at  all,  either  sidewise  or 
forward  or  backward.  He  must  hold  his  chin 
up,  keep  his  mouth  shut,  and  look  to  the  front. 
His  arms  might  hang  or  one  might  rest  on  his 
knee  and  one  up  against  his  breast,  as  you  see 
in  the  seated  King,  or  they  might  be  folded. 
But  in  any  case  they  were  stuck  fast  to  him. 

The  American  sculptor  decides  whether  his 
figure  shall  have  a  large  or  a  small  head,  how  his 
hair  shall  hang,  how  he  shall  be  dressed.  These 
things  also  were  ordered  for  the  sculptor  in  old 
Egypt.  Large  ears,  set  high,  hair  alike  on  two 
sides,  head  just  so  many  times  the  length  of 
the  nose,  arms  so  many  times  the  head,  body 
and  legs  just  so  long — there  were  rules  for  it  all, 
for  the  statues  of  both  men  and  women. 

The  hard  materials  out  of  which  the  statues 
were  generally  carved  made  it  necessary  they 


EGYPTIAN  SCULPTURE 


Antinous,  a  Roman  Statue  made  in  imitation  of  the  Egyptian  style 
because  Antinous  died  in  Egypt. 

should  be  simple,  and  this  simplicity  was  soon 
prescribed  by  these  religious  rules. 


EGYPTIAN  SCULPTURE 


And  yet — look  at  them.  Stiff,  lean,  high- 
shouldered,  narrow  hipped,  with  hardly  any 
modeling,  except  at  the  knees,  wonderfully 
similar,  yet  somehow  these  Egyptians  made  so 
many,  worked  so  well,  believed  so  thoroughly 
that  they  were  likely  to  be  dwelt  in  by  their 
old  souls,  that  they  made  them  good  portraits. 
The  Kas  of  these  two  kings  will  never  make  any 
mistake  and  exchange  bodies. 

The  Bible  tells  us  that  when  a  man  looks  in 
the  mirror  and  goes  away,  he  straightway  for- 
gets what  manner  of  man  he  is;  but  every  Ka 
who  looks  among  the  Egyptian  statues  for 
his  own  will  know,  when  he  meets  the  wrong 
one,  like  the  old  woman  in  the  tale,  "This  is 
none  of  I." 

The  skill  that  this  indicates  is  wonderful. 

Other  nations  have  made  queer  stiff  statues; 
other  nations  have  been  bound  by  religious  rules 
to  make  them  just  so;  other  nations  have  gained 
skill  in  the  use  of  tools.  But  no  other  nation  has 
made  statues  that  we  would  mistake  for  those  of 
Egypt,  except  in  imitation. 

Here  is  a  statuette,  a  little  statue,  in  imitation 
of  Egyptian  style. 

It  is,  however,  a  Roman  statue.  In  what  does 
it  resemble  the  Egyptian  statues?  How  does  it 
differ  from  them? 

The  reason  the  sculptor  made  it  in  this  style 
is  that  the  young  man,  Antinous,  whom  it 


EGYPTIAN  SCULPTURE 


represents,  died  in  Egypt.  In  fact,  he  was 
drowned  in  the  Nile. 

The  story  is  that  when  the  Roman  emperor 
was  traveling  through  Egypt,  there  was  a 
prophecy  that  he  could  only  avoid  a  threatened 
danger  by  the  sacrifice  of  one  whom  he  loved. 
Now  Antinous  knew  that  the  Emperor  loved  him 
and  so,  to  save  his  emperor,  he  drowned  himself 
in  the  Egyptian  river. 

Compare  this  with  the  real  Egyptian  statues: 
the  position;  the  legs;  the  arms;  the  feet;  the 
hands;  the  body;  the  back;  the  face. 

We  seldom  see  any  sculpture  nowadays  that 
imitates  the  style  of  Egypt,  but  we  do  often  see 
things  decorated  with  Egyptian  designs,  such 
as  are  shown  on  this  page.  For  the  Egyptians 
were  masters  of  design  making. 


EXCHANGE 

nrr  9  1917 


Stories  of  the  Statues 

6.  The  Rooster. 


A  Rooster  by  Louis  Vidal,   a  French  Sculptor 

Newark,  N.  J. 

The  [Newark  Museum  Association 
1917 


OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 

A   -  OP 


*: 


/ 


The  Rooster 

Every  kind  of  animal  has  a  character  of  its 
own.  The  rabbit  is  called  timid,  the  donkey 
stubborn,  the  lion  noble,  the  fox  clever.  Part  of 
the  aim  of  the  animal  painter  or  sculptor  is  to 
set  forth  in  his  art  the  character  of  each  animal 
that  he  paints  or  models. 

Some  people  love  all  animals,  and  some  have 
a  peculiar  insight  into  the  characters  of  one 
special  kind  of  animal  life.  Rosa  Bonheur,  the 
French  painter,  loved  best  to  paint  horses. 
Madame  Ronner  painted  the  luxurious  habits 
of  the  aristocratic  Persian  cat. 

Louis  Vidal,  a  Frenchman,  liked  roosters- 
healthy,  upstanding,  strutting,  big -combed, 
plume-tailed,  strong-legged,  crowing  roosters. 
And  when  we  look  at  the  swaggering  fellow  he 
modeled  we  know  that  his  maker  liked  him. 
The  arch  of  his  neck,  and  the  curve  of  his  breast, 
the  firmness  of  his  tread  and  the  spring  of  his 
tail,  all  tell  it. 

Vidal  was  a  pupil  of  Barye,  whose  lion  we  all 
know  in  bronze.  He  was  skillful,  for  he  has 
managed,  without  trying  to  carve  the  details  of 
feathers  at  all,  to  make  us  sure  that  the  breast 
of  this  rooster  is  soft. 

It  is  a  good  thing  for  those  of  us  who  cannot 
go  a-hunting  wild  game,  even  with  the  camera, 
who  have  no  zoo,  and  who  do  not  often  have  the 


circus  in  town,  that  we  can  see  so  plainly 
through  Vidal's  eyes  that  a  rooster  may  be 
beautiful. 

So  may  a  horse,  as  we  see  at  least  once  a  year 
when  the  horses  of  Newark  parade.  So  may 
the  dog  that  we  see  daily  on  the  street.  So 
may  a  cat;  feed  your  own  well,  if  you  want  to 
prove  it.  And  as  for  birds! 

Some  American  animal  sculptors  were  raised 
on  the  western  plains,  or  mountains,  like 
Borglum  and  Proctor;  while  others  picked  up 
most  of  what  they  knew  of  animals  in  cities, 
perhaps  in  a  zoo. 

Most  of  them  got  their  best  ideas  about 
putting  the  characters  of  the  animal  they 
studied  into  their  work  from  France,  from  the 
work  of  such  artists  as  the  one  who  made  this 
rooster. 

To  the  true  animal  artist  the  very  animal 
itself  seems  to  be  hidden  in  the  clay  or  stone, 
or  wood,  and  the  artist's  task  is  to  get  it  out  by 
taking  the  useless  material  away  and  revealing 
the  beautiful  hidden  thing. 

Mr.  Fox,  who  carved  the  ivory  elephants  at 
the  Newark  Museum,  says  he  feels  there  are 
elephants  in  the  tusk  he  works  on  and  that  he 
cuts  them  free!  So  Vidal  must  have  felt  with 
his  cock.  Get  a  piece  of  clay  and  see  if  you  can 
find  your  favorite  animal  hidden  in  it.  If  you 
can,  you  may  be  a  sculptor  yourself.  Things 
just  as  strange  are  happening  every  day. 


9    1Q17 


Stories  of  the  Statues 

•— ^ 

7.  The  Boy  with  the  Thorn. 


Newark,  N.  J. 

The  (Newark  Museum  Association 

1917 


Spinario,  or  The  Thorn 

This  boy  has  caused  scholars  no  end  of  trouble. 
They  can't  find  out  who  made  him,  or  when,  or 
who  lost  him,  or  who  found  him.  They  know 
that  a  bronze  figure  like  this  was  placed  by  a 
Pope,  named  Sixtus,  in  a  collection  of  statues 
which  he  made  in  Rome  about  twenty  years 
before  Columbus  discovered  America. 

When  Napoleon  conquered  Italy  he  carried 
off  the  statue;  but  it  was  afterward  returned. 
And  in  Italy  it  has  remained. 

But  what  had  happened  to  it  before  1470? 
It  is  supposed  then  to  have  been,  at  that  time, 
almost  two  thousand  years  old.  No  one  knows. 

You  can  read  learned  essays  showing  that  it 
must  have  been  made  at  such  and  such  a  date; 
as  shown  by  the  fact  that  the  sculptors  made 
hair  in  this  style,  or  heads  of  the  shape  of  this 
one.  And  one  author  fixes  the  date  of  its  making 
by  the  fact  that,  although  the  boy  is  pulling  a 
thorn  from  his  foot — which  must  hurt — he  is 
not  making  a  face  over  it!  It  seems  that  all 
sculptured  faces  made  over  four  hundred  years 
before  Christ  were  calm  like  the  face  of  this  boy. 

One  story  about  it  we  know  to  be  untrue, 
but  it  is  a  good  story  and  worth  taking.  It  is 
this:  About  four  hundred  years  ago,  in  one  of 
the  old  wars  of  Rome,  this  shepherd  boy  was 
sent  to  Rome  to  warn  the  people  that  the  enemy 


was  coming,  and  he  ran  to  the  city  with  a  thorn 
in  his  foot  which  he  never  stopped  to  pull  out 
until  his  message  was  delivered.  The  statue 
was  therefore  called  "The  Faithful  One." 

It  is  a  fine  thing  that  plaster  copies  can  so 
easily  be  made  of  the  world's  great  statues. 
For  "The  Faithful  One"  or  "Spinario"  is  a 
lovely  boy,  on  whose  beautifully  modeled  figure 
with  the  curve  of  its  bent  back  and  bowed  head 
we  like  to  gaze. 

Many  an  American  student  of  art  who  has 
spent  years  of  study  and  much  money  in  learning 
sculpture  would  give  half  of  all  his  future 
earnings  if  he  could  hope  to  be  able  at  last  to 
make  a  figure  like  this. 

Yet  the  name  of  the  Greek  sculptor  is  un- 
known, and  if  the  boy  was  the  victor  in  some 
renowned  game  in  those  early  days,  that,  too, 
is  unknown.  All  that  is** certain  is  that  this  is 
The  Boy  With  a  Thorn — Spinario. 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

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on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 
Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


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